Because of the scheduling and operational differences between farming (suppliers) and restaurant industries (consumers), there are inefficiencies that naturally exist.

 

Farms map out their yields and harvest during the months of seeding, however for restaurants, ordering tends to have to come from head chefs on a weekly basis, at which point, the product is ready for harvest.

 

Therefore, the precision with which farms can anticipate demand is extremely important, to maximize time, make profit and minimize waste. This is easier said than done, since restaurants are constantly changing their order quantities, and not all restaurants order produce during all seasons. Some only order pumpkins, for example, while others order sporadically throughout the year.

 

Currently, Karma Farm sends out a product availability sheet weekly to restaurant chefs via email, and restaurants place their orders for the week, which is then followed by Karma Farm's harvest and distribution of product. To request that head chefs anticipate product needs further in advance isn't always possible, especially because many restaurants have a host of administrative challenges, and menus are always changing.

 

Therefore, Karma Farm's ability to manage and project demand is best done by analyzing trends and patterns from past seasons. For the past two years, Karma Farm has been entering sales into Quickbooks, however they have not yet had the capacity to analyze this data, or map out sales trends to make future production decisions.